domenica 30 agosto 2015

Khebez Dawle is a Syrian five-member rock band. Founded in Damascus, Syria in the late 2012 as a one-man project, the band consolidated in Beirut, Lebanon in early 2013. With Anas Maghrebi, Muhammad Bazz, Bachi Darwish and Hekmat Qassar & Dani Shukri. Khebez Dawle has a one album so far, their self-titled concept album "Khebez Dawle", recorded April-July 2014 and scheduled to be released August 2015. All the band members are now living in Beirut, Lebanon.

Name And Concept:

We enjoy the wordplay in our band's name. In Syrian spoken-word, "Khebez Dawle" means "government bread" or -literally- "country bread", it's a very common thing in Syria. The Syrian government bread always used to mean safety, stability and living well, to all the Syrian people. However, to us, "Khebez Dawle" is also interpreted as "the people that are the basis for building a dignified, safe and well-being country", regardless of any boundaries or policies. Thus, we ourselves and all the people around us are the subject matter of our music.

Musical Background:

Khebez Dawle members performed in many venues and places back in Syria, under many names and projects. Anas -Lead singer/songwriter- worked in media production with many studios in Syria, and as a vocalist/rhythm guitarist with many Syrian bands. Bachi -Guitarist- works at the ‘Bidna Capoeira’ organization, and co-founded a Syrian band called ‘Ana’. Bazz -Bassist- played bass guitar for many Syrian bands and co-founded ‘Ana’ with Bachi. Hekmat -Guitarist/Keyboardistalso played for many bands and composed soundtracks for short films and animations. Khebez Dawle has been recording and playing with session drummers until Dani Shukri from the band Tanjaret Daghet joined Khebez Dawle.

Musical Style:

Khebez Dawle's sound is a combination of "indie/post-rock oriented guitars, modernrock up-building drums and bass, and the dirty, rough oriental male vocals". Khebez Dawle's music consists basically of "Arabic Syrian spoken-word lyrics, oriental vocal lines/guitar licks/solos, and a rhythm section that is a creative fusion between oriental and modern-rock beats".

Lyrics:

Khebez Dawle's lyrics are best described as "revolutionary, hopeful, yet wise poem" The lyrics are written in Arabic Syrian spoken-word language. -selections of the lyrics would be sent upon request

Khebez Dawle (2015): By the 1st of May, 2014, Khebez Dawle started recording their self-titled first album, funded by The Arab Fund For Art And Culture (Afac) and The Arab Culture Resource (Mawred) -links below-. It's a concept album that tells the story of a Syrian young guy experiencing the events of the Arab Spring, particularly the Syrian Uprising. This album tells the story from a humanitarian point of view, away from any polarizing political alignment.

Live/Dates:

From May 1st, 2014 through 2015, Khebez Dawle is doing shows and concerts at many venues and places in Lebanon in order to promote the album. Here's our schedule for the past period :

By the first days of 2015 Khebez Dawle will be preparing for their album-release show to be held early 2016, -place not confirmed yet-. It's a rock musical show that involves visual arts and actors. The show builds up as the scenario of the story evolves.

The temperature in the pressure cooker that is the Syrian rock band Tanjaret Daghet only keeps rising. First, they lived as persecuted rock musicians in Syria. Now they live in Beirut as exiles, anxious about their families and homes. Their debut album, 180 Degrees, is the product of a release of steam.

“Through making this record, we got offered a new perspective into our lives,” says the drummer Dani Shukri. “The road has been filled with growing pains, joy, suffering, rebirth, faith, hope and love.”

In October 2011, the three musicians moved to Beirut to explore the opportunities of the Lebanese music industry and to avoid military service and the harassment of the Syrian intelligence. Today, they perform as a trio and as the backing band of the electro-pop band Zeid and the Wings.

The lead guitarist and vocalist Tarek Ziad Khuluki, 24, is as energetic as the sound of his electric guitar. Short, with untamed, shoulder-length hair, stubble and an earring, he’s a contrast to the band’s lead vocalist and bass guitar player Khaled Omran, 30, who, with his tall and sturdy physique, glasses, close-cropped hair and lumberjack shirt, is a pillar of calmness. Shukri, 24, with his friendly, brown eyes, beard and long, curly hair tied back in a ponytail, unites the energies behind his drums.

“You are a big bag with a brain and soul inside. Your name is human / Your sound is low so start singing / I carry your misery and you carry me. Your name is my name,” Omran sings in Arabic on the song Tanfesseh (Little Steam Releaser) from the album.

“Our lyrics are open for anyone to understand the way they want. It’s not trying to convince anybody – we are just sharing an experience about what we do,” he says during a conversation at their house in downtown Beirut.

Their roommate, the violinist Haian Arshied, walks into the room with his iPad.

“Did you see Khaled? Your bass was bombed!” He shows them photos from the High Institute of Music in Damascus, from where Arshied, Omran and Shukri graduated. They watch in disbelief. Five upright basses are still standing, but the room is destroyed.

“Today, they killed the instruments,” Omran said. Then a discussion breaks out about whether the government could have been behind the bombing.

Growing up in an authoritarian society, and later being “disenchanted with almost all we thought was real” with the degradation of the popular uprising into an ugly bloodbath, makes the musicians extremely critical of power and media.

Shukri hums the riff of Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall.

“Yeah, exactly, when I first saw that film I understood,” recalls Omran, who says that he was always breaking the rules at school. “I was angry.” Metal was an outlet, but not one that the government liked.

They explain that when rock and metal became popular in Syria, the intelligence started monitoring the metallers. On June 6, 2006, the authorities went on a raid in Syria, arresting everyone with long hair or black T-shirts on the suspicion of being Satanists.

“It was like a conspiracy,” says Khuluki, adding that the same happened with fans of techno, who were accused of being drug addicts. “Everything they don’t like, they make illegal.”

Omran had numerous encounters with the officials. During one interrogation, an officer was watching MTV Arabia. “Do you know this band?” he asked Omran, who replied that they were Bullet for My Valentine. The officer wrote it down as “Bullet”.

In the end, they told Omran the name of the person who had given him up.

“They are trying to separate the people from one another to create tension,” Khuluki says.

Tanjaret Daghet, which means “pressure cooker” in Arabic, planned album release parties in Beirut, Cairo and Amman, but not in Damascus – their hometown.

“Being away from Syria causes us deep pain and anxiety. Knowing that our loved ones are in constant danger, being away from our homes and our roots is disturbing,” Shukri says. “It’s hard to talk about hope and forward motion when your home is being torn to pieces. But this particular struggle and existential schism has helped us understand better who we are, what we want and pushes us daily to find a way to make it come true.”

The band recently released the single Ta7t El Daghet (Under Pressure), which they call “our perpetual state of being”.

The members are rooted in Bilad Al-Sham, spanning the divides from Amman to the Galilee, the Golan Heights to Ramallah. This new sound of 47SOUL has rapidly amassed fans in the Middle East and Europe by blasting the electric Arabic debka sound through underground music scenes.

Overcoming physical and logistical challenges, they came together to play electronic Palestinian street music. 47SOUL writes and performs to speak about freedom of movement, whether that’s sparking new dance styles or singing about breaking down border check points. For the past 2 years the band has based itself between Jordan and the UK, to spread their new wave of Arabic music.

Their sound is rooted in Arabic Dabke, the celebration dance music from the Bilad Al-Sham area; the name for the land that spans Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan. 47SOUL hypes it up with analog synthesizers, drum machines, epic guitar lines, and tripped-out English and Arabic verses from the four singers. The electronic and urban influence in their music takes them far out of the ‘world music’ context and places them in the genre of a new generation of international electronic/hip hop acts that are reinventing the old for the future .This new sound of 47SOUL is called ShamStep.

giovedì 27 agosto 2015

Haifa Kamal is one of the pioneer vocalists in Jordan and in the arab world, being raised as a musician since childhood, she grew up to master arabic singing under the patronage of her father the well known palestinian composer and singer Kamal Khalil.

Haifa has a bachelor degree in mathematics, in addition to a Bachelor in music/arabic singing.

In addition to her heavenly voice, Haifa is a professional actress, as she starred many Jordanian theatre plays, and played the role of Palestinian Poet Fadwa Tuqan in a T.V series about the unforgettable poet.

Haifa has performed as a solo vocalist with many professional Musical groups and orchestras locally and internationally, such as Baladna (Kamal Khalil) , Rum (Tareq Al Nasser),Razz (Aziz Maraka), National music conservatory orchestra, Amman Symphonita, Amman arabic string Quartet, and many others.

She was also featured in many sound tracks of arabic and international T.V series, Movies, and documentaries with pioneer sound track composers such as Tareq Al Nasser, Dr.Najati Al Suloh and Waleed Al Hasheem.

Haifa is one of the main vocalists in the Jordanian Female musical group NAYA.

In 2014 she made her first album entitled: " Denya ". The realization of the disc was made possible thanks to the collaboration of the musician Alaa Wardi.

lunedì 24 agosto 2015

Hussein Sherbini (born 1987) , co-founder of Epic 101 Studios and part of WETROBOTS, is a producer/visual artist from Cairo, Egypt, known for his vast experimentation with sound design and conceptual visuals. Following the release of his debut solo EP 'Fairchile' and a track signing with famous french label 'Kitsune', Sherbini began to further experiment with different sounds that continue to push the boundaries of dance music and genres. He has maintained the reputation of using a variety of weird instruments, analog synthesisers and custom made microphones in his music. In 2015, Hussein released his first album titled ‘ELECTRO CHAABI’. The album gained a lot of attention due to it’s title and the fact that the it is not considered Electro chaabi, in fact it was a marketing stunt revealed within the album. Apart from the music, Hussein co-owns a music production studio/school that teaches young Egyptian talents modern music production methods and he is currently working on a Live performance curriculun as well as an Interactive visuals curriculum to introduce a change in the Egyptian arts and performance scene.(Source : http://www.residentadvisor.net/ )